Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: Sorry I'm going to ask this again... Could you please comment on your "automatic waterers" that you use?
I've been experimenting with a couple different options but the jury is still out due to various issues. I'd LOVE to hear what folks are using for auto-waterers.

I did try the nipples but had issues with one set leaking too much water and the second set seemed to be working okay but after a week I never saw the girls drinking from them which concerns me. (Even when I tried to coax them to drink, it would be only a peck or 2 then no interest...even though they had been using the prior nipples for several weeks with success.) If the day was REALLY HOT, I'd put a pan of cold water outside in the hot afternoons for them to stand in and cool off and they'd drink from it like a herd of camels in the desert at an oasis which made me wonder if they were using the nipples at all.

Right now I'm trying these from Premier Fence: http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=78557&cat_id=141 (See photos) But...I don't think I'll be able to keep them from freezing with the bucket heater in the winter like I could with the nipples!

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Heat lamp...hmmm what? My orphan chicks just got to be close to the wood stove until they had some feathers on their bodies, a week, then out to the hen house...not that I wouldn't use one, just didn't have a bulb...and as it's time to change the bedding. Of course that night temps dropped to freezing and it snowed...they were fine, I just made a nest with more pine chips and they snuggled together. They are pretty strong and healthy...I look at posts where people are worried about twelve weekers and such afraid for them to be outside in seventy degree weather and feel so sorry for those chicks....and usually they are getting chickens because of the way commercial birds are kept...poor little things...but of course they won't even listen when you tell them to kick em outside.

 

[Back2MyRoots]

Heat lamp...hmmm what? My orphan chicks just got to be close to the wood stove until they had some feathers on their bodies, a week, then out to the hen house...not that I wouldn't use one, just didn't have a bulb...and as it's time to change the bedding. Of course that night temps dropped to freezing and it snowed...they were fine, I just made a nest with more pine chips and they snuggled together. They are pretty strong and healthy...I look at posts where people are worried about twelve weekers and such afraid for them to be outside in seventy degree weather and feel so sorry for those chicks....and usually they are getting chickens because of the way commercial birds are kept...poor little things...but of course they won't even listen when you tell them to kick em outside.

Wrangler, I will say, I was one of those heat-obsessed folks at first----everything I had read said the little boogers would up and die if I didn't keep them super toasty 24/7 til they were "fully feathered". Once I found BYC and read a lot of long-time chicken owners' posts about how unnecessary it was, I eased off a little bit and the ladies seemed to thrive even more!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Don't throw out conventional wisdom, though you need to understand what is conventional wisdom and what is people obsessing over the wrong thing. Conventional wisdom, or as I call them. the guidelines, are there for a reason. They keep practically everyone in a really wide range of circumstances out of trouble. The people on this forum brood chicks in a really wide range of ways. You can't cover all the ifs and buts in a five second sound bite and a lot of people won't read past that five second sound bite. Some people have absolutely no idea where to start so you have to give them some hard and fast numbers. I personally hate to give hard and fast numbers with chickens, whether temperature, coop space, roost space, or anything else, but people starting out need something to go by. That's why hatcheries give those temperature ranges for chicks. They don't know what conditions you are going to be keeping them and they have no idea how much experience people have with chicks or any living animal. The guidelines cover all bases and, yes, they are overkill for a lot of people.

Chicks don't need to be kept at a constant perfect temperature. They need what they have with a broody, a warm place to go to to warm up. When they are under her, they are out of the wind. I think they are a lot healthier when they can play in colder temperatures.

If you provide a place that they can get protected from the wind, snuggle in bedding, and if you have enough chicks to help generate heat and keep each other warm, they can easily get by with less heat than the guidelines. Staying dry helps too. How much less heat depends on your particular circumstances. There are some "if's" involved.

I never keep heat on chicks past five weeks, even in the middle of winter. I've had 5-1/2 week olds in overnight temperatures in the mid-20's in an unheated wire-bottomed grow-out coop, but it does have decent (not perfect) draft protection. In the heat of summer, I might turn the heat off overnight at two weeks and usually earlier than that during the day. Depends on how many I have, how they are acting, and what the temperatures are. I've seen a broody take chicks to the roost at 2 weeks in the summer and she could not cover then all to keep them warm overnight. And I never brood in the house. I like to stay married. As soon as they come out of the incubator, they go into the brooder in the coop.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Don't throw out conventional wisdom, though you need to understand what is conventional wisdom and what is people obsessing over the wrong thing. Conventional wisdom, or as I call them. the guidelines, are there for a reason. They keep practically everyone in a really wide range of circumstances out of trouble. The people on this forum brood chicks in a really wide range of ways. You can't cover all the ifs and buts in a five second sound bite and a lot of people won't read past that five second sound bite. Some people have absolutely no idea where to start so you have to give them some hard and fast numbers. I personally hate to give hard and fast numbers with chickens, whether temperature, coop space, roost space, or anything else, but people starting out need something to go by. That's why hatcheries give those temperature ranges for chicks. They don't know what conditions you are going to be keeping them and they have no idea how much experience people have with chicks or any living animal. The guidelines cover all bases and, yes, they are overkill for a lot of people.
Chicks don't need to be kept at a constant perfect temperature. They need what they have with a broody, a warm place to go to to warm up. When they are under her, they are out of the wind. I think they are a lot healthier when they can play in colder temperatures.
If you provide a place that they can get protected from the wind, snuggle in bedding, and if you have enough chicks to help generate heat and keep each other warm, they can easily get by with less heat than the guidelines. Staying dry helps too. How much less heat depends on your particular circumstances. There are some "if's" involved.
I never keep heat on chicks past five weeks, even in the middle of winter. I've had 5-1/2 week olds in overnight temperatures in the mid-20's in an unheated wire-bottomed grow-out coop, but it does have decent (not perfect) draft protection. In the heat of summer, I might turn the heat off overnight at two weeks and usually earlier than that during the day. Depends on how many I have, how they are acting, and what the temperatures are. I've seen a broody take chicks to the roost at 2 weeks in the summer and she could not cover then all to keep them warm overnight. And I never brood in the house. I like to stay married. As soon as they come out of the incubator, they go into the brooder in the coop.

I'm glad someone (YOU) are pointing out why they lay out the "guidelines". I think it's really a matter of common-sense, but a lot of people - as you say - won't read past the "sound bite"...and a lot of people just don't use "common sense".

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

I suppose that's true, it's why there are instructions on a shampoo bottle....and corps need to have disclaimers to protect themselves from liability, like the guy who set cruise control on his RV at seventy MPH, then got up to make a pot of coffee...who could have seen that coming. And maybe they are just afraid of doing the wrong thing..just think you'd study a little to find the right thing...that's asking too much in this day and age, isn't it? But if i ask you what's right and get ten out of ten say do this...why say, naw-i'm goin do that.......just baffling.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Originally Posted by Ridgerunner

I never keep heat on chicks past five weeks, even in the middle of winter. I've had 5-1/2 week olds in overnight temperatures in the mid-20's in an unheated wire-bottomed grow-out coop, but it does have decent (not perfect) draft protection. In the heat of summer, I might turn the heat off overnight at two weeks and usually earlier than that during the day. Depends on how many I have, how they are acting, and what the temperatures are. I've seen a broody take chicks to the roost at 2 weeks in the summer and she could not cover then all to keep them warm overnight. And I never brood in the house. I like to stay married. As soon as they come out of the incubator, they go into the brooder in the coop.

I'm glad someone (YOU) are pointing out why they lay out the "guidelines". I think it's really a matter of common-sense, but a lot of people - as you say - won't read past the "sound bite"...and a lot of people just don't use "common sense".

Ridgerunner, that's the approach I take and have had similar experience. Also, birds in the house? The dust wouldn't have a chance to kill me, my wife would.

Leah's Mom, I tell people to just use common sense, but the more I'm around some backyard people, I realize they don't have the ability.
I don't mean all of them but it seems like at least half. They were never around animals (other than dogs, cats and goldfish) or even raised a garden before they decided to "get back to the land".
Animal behavior and needs are really beyond their ability to comprehend on their own.
I've been teaching classes on BY chickens for some time at the local community college. Some have never seen a chicken. I give my students my card and tell them to call or e-mail if they need anything.
I'll get questions about things they're confused by that was covered in depth AND is spelled out in the handout I provide.
I just think that if you didn't grow up dealing with livestock and farming issues, it's the rare person that has that technology (common sense)

 

[Zany Chick]

Chickens have been a good source of food for quite a while. 500 chickens is a lot of chickens even by my standards. Anyone who can stay in business at this time needs to keep his/her eye on the ball. lol Before I retired I watched my birds a lot...mostly for entertainment to relax me after a hard day dealing with idiots at a university......it is remarkable how little common sense one finds in a place of higher learning. It has been a great source of relaxation for me even though it requires a lot of physical work. Hopefully you are enjoying the birds in many ways.

Walt

It may sound silly, but a big part of the reason I got chickens is to watch them, I enjoy it and find it relaxing. Where I put my coop and run was largely decided by where I could see it from my kitchen window. I will enjoy the eggs and maybe the meat, I will definitely enjoy the entertainment.

 

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

Well, I'm not an OT and I have only had chickens for 6 or 7 years, but I have learned a little about them and unfortunately, I learned the hard way. This is all just in my opinion...
1.) Don't worry if the waterer is a little bit dirty. Chickens don't mind, they drink from mud puddles in the wild.
2.) You don't need to clean out their pens every day of the year. (I actually used to do that) If there are a few droppings in there the world won't end.
3.) Chickens WILL come to roost at night. You don't have to watch them when you let them out of their pens. They are not going to wonder off and get lost. (I used to sit out with my chickens the entire time they were out of the pen and then corral them back into the pen like they couldn't do it themselves
4.) Don't try and carry chickens around like puppies. It just causes more stress for everybody. If you want to carry something around, then get a puppy.
5.) Relax...chickens do a good job of taking care of themselves. Don't worry about them so much
6.) Understand that a chicken is a chicken and don't get too attached. Yes, they are going to die eventually. Understand that and save yourself some grief later. Leave some of the emotion out of it.
7.) Chickens are going to try to waste their feed. I now have 2 big feed pans in the coop that the chickens can get in and scratch around without flinging the feed to China. This works best for me. I just dump some food in the pans and go. No fancy hanging feeders for me, the chickens don't need it.
8.) Chickens don't need to have a heater in the winter. They can come out in the cold just fine and won't even mind snow too much. (I used to think that if they came out when it was really cold then they would get sick and die or something. That's just not how it is.)

 

[MOChickenShoes]

after about a week of some serious reading

, i've finally made it all the way through this thread!! my wife and i are very new to chickens (our tiny flock of 5 are now 8-10 weeks old), and i can not give enough thanks to bee (especially), al, fred, walt, ridgerunner, and all the other contributors whether they're OT's or not. you guys have confirmed what i had already assumed in that raising chickens isn't rocket science generally. just letting them do their chicken things will usually win out in keeping them alive and healthy. we are located squarely in the thralls of suburbia, and therefore only have a very modest sized yard (at least in relation to many of the pics you guys have posted of your coop set ups etc) and can only support a very few number of chickens. it took a lot of convincing on my wife's part for me to give her the go ahead on getting these birds, as i (and she for that matter) have exactly zero experience raising livestock of any kind, so i was a very wary of getting into something that i knew nothing about. that being said, we are both prone to researching like the dickens when we're so inclined, so we picked up a few books and scanned the web to glean whatever info looked useful on the subject. we got our coop built while we were "brooding" our new arrivals (used a large tupperware type tub and a gerbil cage we had lying around the house) and moved the chickens into their new home when the youngest was 3 weeks, and have been absolutely enjoying every minute of the process thus far.

we have 2 young kids (son is 8, daughter is 6) and my daughter especially is thrilled with our new "pets". suffice it to say, with our limited space and number of birds we're allowed by our city's codes, our chickens would definitely be pets more than anything else. they have names, and get held/handled often. we are looking forward to the fresh eggs they'll be providing for us when they're of age, but have zero plans to use them for meat at this time. i can't stress enough how surprised i have been at how much i enjoy having the chickens. since we got them, we are hanging out in the backyard more often than not, just watching them be chickens or moving their portable pen around the yard so they can have fresh grass to forage in (got that idea from a post bee made earlier in the thread, as city codes here dictate they have to be enclosed at all times unfortunately), people that are randomly out for walks in our neighborhood never fail to stop and smile while they admire them. it's really gone over so much better all around than i would have ever imagined it would. =)

hope all is well with you and yours, and thanks again to all for posting!
-shoe

p.s. bee and stonykill, i :really: enjoyed your guys' backstory, very fascinating to read! thank you for sharing!!
p.p.s. aschenfire, i enjoyed and understood the chocobo reference